


Lyfrassir Edda and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Life

by capripian



Category: The Bifrost Incident - The Mechanisms (Album), The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: (i.e. dismembered mechs and yog-sothoth shit), Canon Amounts of Body Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Mutual Pining(eventually), POV Alternating, Story focuses almost exclusively on Lyf and Marius
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:49:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22917988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/capripian/pseuds/capripian
Summary: Lyfrassir Edda is not having a very good time of it all. For starters, their entire galaxy was consumed by an eldritch being which still haunts their nightmares to this day, not to mention the hour left of oxygen before they die unremembered. The ship of space pirates that comes to murder them seems like a blessing at this point, but the identity of said space pirates takes matters from bad to worse.
Relationships: Marius von Raum/Lyfrassir Edda
Comments: 129
Kudos: 248





	1. In which Lyfrassir gets an interesting call and Marius hears a familiar voice

**Author's Note:**

> My Lyf is nonbinary, so they switch between he/him and they/them and use both.
> 
> This is directly inspired by the Hello Ladies tumblr groupchat, which got me onto the violinspector bandwagon.
> 
> This hasn't been painstakingly edited, so if you see any typos feel free to bring them to my attention.

Lyfrassir Edda, Former Inspector Second Class of the New Midgard Transport Police. Will that be on their tomb? No, they think, sitting hunched over on the floor of their ship. Who'd be left to remember them? Everyone died. 

Everyone - no, not _died_ , that would be too kind. They just- and trying to remember is like falling into open space, falling and falling and knowing that nothing awaits you but that which you can never understand, and once again Lyf cannot think of what happened. They just can't. Their mind blanks, as they think of what happened to their mothers, to their older brother. To the stray cat that they fed on their way to the station. To the inspectors they worked with. There’s nothing left. Worse, there might be _something_ left. 

They don't want to think about that. They'll dream about it, later. If there's a later to dream about. If they don't just die from lack of oxygen beforehand. It's been almost a week, and Lyf's hourly hyperventilation sessions likely did not help conserve air. They would die here. 

They knew this, but still they reminded themself: better here than _there_ , with _it:_ and here their brain supplies detail, faintly veiled behind static and fear and color and pain and madness. They rub their face. Too scruffy. No mirrors on this blasted wreck. They just sit down, and wait for the end.

And wait, and wait, and wait. And when it becomes apparent that the end won't come that quickly, they get up. Wait a fucking second. Is that a notification? From _whom?._ They don't recognize the ship's identification, but they open it anyway. Can't possibly get worse. 

An automated message loads, of a voice they don't recognize. They think the accent is… Cyberian? Odd. They listen. "Attention to the owner of this starfaring vessel: the crew of the Starship Aurora will begin boarding momentarily to kill, dismember, torture, and/or eat every sentient being aboard." Wait, what? They replay the message, but it remains the same. Uh… that's certainly a much more abrupt death than planned. They look out the window, and sure enough there's a heavily modified starship outside, _Aurora_ painted haphazardly across the side. Lyf could try to hide, certainly, but it seems beside the point. They shrug. May as well continue the process of accepting their fate. 

They send a message back, typed. The microphone was broken when they bought it. _"The starship Snorri will comply with your wishes. Feel free to board."_ What do they have to lose? 

* * *

Marius von Raum is, personally, a little bit pissed off a lot the time. This is to be expected for someone who shares a ship with Ashes O'Reilly, Jonny D'Ville, Nastya Rasputina, Ivy Alexandria, Raphaella la Cognizi, Gunpowder Tim, Drumbot Brian, and the Toy Soldier.

However, right now Marius von Raum is a bit more pissed off than usual, and the crazy thing is that he's not exactly sure why. Everything is going according to plan. He escaped New Midgard Prison with Raphaella and Ivy, killed a few hundred civilians on the way, and blasted off back to the Aurora before Yog-Sothoth could consume Yggdrasil. Easy-peasy. 

Marius didn't miss the wretched place, 40 years of sitting around in that boring old prison. Well, not boring. Not when Lyf was there. Lyf was fun. The disdain they had for his violin, the fun it was to go into a round of Tales To Be Told when they were there desperately telling Marius to stop. He'd never tell Lyf, of course. It'd make them far too big for their britches. Of course… he guessed there was no chance to tell Lyf that. No chance to tell Lyf anything. They died along with Yggdrasil two days after Marius escaped with Ivy and Raphaella. Obviously. That _colorful, maddening, brilliant_ section of the universe was horrifying, but they were away from it now, the Aurora circling around a nearby system. 

Gunpowder Tim, as is his fashion, called for a good old murder spree on the first ship that reached proximity. They waited a few days, but eventually a small little wreck of a thing came up. A bit small, but it's not as if they'd have to worry about stray fire. Marius thinks Jonny might actually encourage stray fire. 

He's still a bit miffed, for whatever reason, but it's fine. He'll live. He doesn't have much choice in that matter, of course. He pulls out a few pistols from the gun room, loads them with quick and practiced motions. Might as well have a good murder to put his mind off of it. He walks over to where the others are gathering. 

"Good _day_ , my friends! Who's ready for some blood?" he says. The rest of his compatriots cheer, and he sees that Ashes has already been shot. He turns to Jonny, fake-stern. "Let's not get too excited, D'Ville. We've got plenty of massacre to come." 

Jonny smiles back, all teeth. He fiddles with his guns. "Captain gets first strike, and second if you keep talking."

"FIRST MATE!", the Mechanisms yell. They'll never let him get away with it. Marius laughs alongside them at Jonny's attempt, but notices Nastya standing apart, smiling at the ship they're about to rip to pieces. 

He walks over to her. "Hey, Nastya, what's up? You seem a little preoccupied." She just smiles, or really it's more of a smirk, and doesn't meet his gaze. 

"You'll just have to wait and see, Marius. This will be fun to watch." That's… Ominous. But hell, he's sure it's fine. 

It looks like they're about to board the vessel, though, so he focuses on the gangplank chamber, a small temporary passageway branching from the Aurora. They'll latch onto the Snorri, then walk through into the ship guns a'blazing. He has his two guns to a'blaze, but as they latch on a voice comes through the wall of the victim's ship as the doors open up. "If you're going to kill me, please just do it fast." Wait. That's...

"Inspector Lyf?" 


	2. In which Lyfrassir enters the Aurora and Marius does his job for once

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains mechs-typical gore and body horror, not discussed at length.

Lyfrassir had been working on his death for the few minutes before the Aurora came to kill him, and he felt satisfied with his efforts. His personal information was written in the airtight storage locker, and he can only hope that someone found it and remembered him. He knows it's unlikely, being only a few light-years outside _it_. Who'd want to be here? Besides space pirates, of course. 

He'll die remembered, in a fashion. No black box for him, just pirates reminiscing on that weird New Midgardian they'd slaughtered for sport. Is he really the last one left of his planet? 

That's a bit sad, but he steels himself. He has a knife he found in the tiny ship kitchen, which counts for something. Well, not really anything. He can't use it, and he doesn't know where he'll find the courage to fight back anyways. He thinks idly that _it_ must have taken that from him. He just runs away, no fight in him. 

They hear the sound of scraping metal from outside, so the pirates must have attached to his ship. They call out, fighting down the waver in their throat. They're Lyfrassir Edda, and they're not going to be a coward about this. "If you're going to kill me, please just do it fast." 

A pause seems to come over the other side of the door, much to Lyf's surprise. Then, a voice they remember. A voice they thought they had finally escaped. A voice so often accompanied by a violin. "Inspector Lyf?" 

Gods FUCKING damn it. Not only is he about to be murdered, but he's about to be murdered by Marius von Raum. His voice remains short, curt. "Von Raum." 

After that, all he gets in response is a ridiculously large amount of gunshots. To an extent where no one in there could possibly be alive. And yet a knock comes at the ship's door. Lyf answers, timid only in the sense that he doesn't want to die immediately and bloodily. 

Of course, who would be on the other side but von Raum? "I never expected you to get out alive, Inspector! Or, should it be _Former_ Inspector?" While von Raum ruminates, Lyf looks around the gangplank. It's absolutely splattered with blood, gore, limbs, and metal. 

"While I know mockery is fantastic for you, I'm more concerned about the fact that you committed eight murders here, by my count." 

Von Raum laughs. "Only seven, the Soldier isn't alive. And besides, it'll wear off." That… Makes no sense. But von Raum doesn't make any sense either, and so he decides to go along with it. 

"So you were planning to kill and eat me, then, von Raum?" he says, deadpan. He's a bit surprised at that, but no matter. Von Raum is a criminal, after all. Apparently one capable of murder on a horrific level. 

Von Raum rolls his eyes. "Of course not, I was going to kill some random idiot. I wasn't planning to kill you, Former Inspector Lyf. You're much more fun to annoy". 

As he walks towards the end of the gangplank chamber, a hand grabs his ankle from the floor. He shakes it off, startled, and it flops away. There's… nothing on the end of that hand. He shudders. Reminds him of- of Tyr and Gorm, that twitching monstrosity, bleeding out, claws pushing their way out of its knuckles. 

He realizes that he's been standing there for far longer than is appropriate, and von Raum is at the end of the chamber, impatient. Annoyed, he thinks, but he doesn't have a great grasp on reading emotion. 

Von Raum pulls him into the starship proper, out of the blood and the gore and the mess of it all. Into the belly of the beast. 

* * *

Marius is, quite frankly, surprised as hell by his decisions. He knows he has no impulse control, but this is wild. A few seconds after realizing it was Inspector Lyf, he decided to break out a fight. Used the Toy Soldier as a not-human shield, flipped Brian's switch, and there he was. Last man standing. Must've been the element of surprise, not to mention luck with the ricochets.

Upon investigating his actions a bit better, he reckons he just didn't want Inspector Lyf, famed tormentee for the ten years he was working for the Transport Police, to be eaten, killed, or tortured. He’s such fun, after all. That's the only reason. 

Lyf himself is blank-eyed, in quite a bit of shock he'd reckon. Not to mention the oxygen deprivation from that tiny little ship's faulty air pumps. He closes the door to the gangplank, but doesn't eject the Mechanisms. It'd get boring a bit too quick without all those tools to shoot, and he couldn't exactly kill Lyf. Well, he could. But he wouldn't. 

The inspector just stands there, staring at the interior of the ship. Only a few bloodstains, but that's to be expected when your main methods for solving disputes was disembowelment. So what could they possibly be staring at? 

"Whatcha looking at, Lyf? Welcome to the humble Aurora!", Marius proclaims, just jaunty and fun enough to piss a stoic off. Especially if that stoic is Lyfrassir Edda, Former Inspector Second Class of the New Midgard Transport Police. 

Lyf looks back, and Marius notices something he hasn't before. Something… new. In their hair, strands of- is that- oh dear. Yog-Sothoth's vibrant rainbow, threaded through their hair. This is a bit of a problem. Lyf remains unaware, though. "Just surprised, I suppose. It's so...normal. Especially for _you_ , von Raum."

Marius shakes his head, distracted. "Guess so, yeah, bit of an oddity for my ilk. Anyhow, come with me. We have a spare room for you, if you want it." Of course, he's not going to take Lyf to a spare room. They have plenty, but this anomaly means that it's Marius' time to shine. They're going to the medical bay. 

He grabs Lyf's arm and walks him through the mazes that make up the corridors of the Aurora. He tried to ignore the feeling of Lyf's arm in his, but it's _warmer_ than flesh should be. Again, troubling. 

Eventually, they arrive. The medical bay, very rarely used and still in immaculate condition. Lyf halts, abruptly, and pulls his arm out of Marius'. "This isn't a spare room, von Raum. What game are you playing?". 

Marius can understand his reservations, but for once he's choosing to respect the rules of medical practice. He's treating this patient, whether the patient in question accepts it or not. “Wait here,” he says, before walking into the storage area. There’s gotta be what he needs in here, it’s a common fucking household item. And indeed, in the corner, a hand mirror lies forgotten. A couple of octokitten prints mar the thick coat of dust. He _really_ has to spend more time in the medical bay. But he comes back to Lyf, sure enough, and without a word passes him the mirror.

“What am I to do with this, von Raum?” he asks, confusion etched across his face. Marius just gestures to it, leaning back against one of the beds. Lyf shrugs, and holds the mirror up to his face, and a second later the mirror is on the floor, broken glass and all. Marius glances from the shattered glass on the floor to Lyf, and sees his face: deathly grey, eyes wide, shuddering. “I-” and before he can get any more words out Lyf sits upon a bed, hands shaking rapidly. Marius thinks he might be crying.

“Ah, Lyf? Are you alright?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Feel free to leave a comment or kudos if you enjoyed.


	3. In which Lyfrassir remembers, and Marius is shot for sport

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains body horror retelling the events of Ragnarok I and II in Lyf's half, so watch out for that! Also, as per the title, Marius is shot for sport.

They don’t hear anything, don’t see anything, don’t feel anything, nothing at all. And yet they know most intimately the sound of flesh torn asunder, the sight of a multicolored horror incomprehensible, the touch of the void upon their mind. They recall, from beyond their memory’s edges, something so intrinsically _other_ that it feels that way upon their soul, the dark clawing at the fringes of reality and dream and nightmare. 

They remember Heimdall, the train’s lead guard, standing firm as his body is split apart, piecemeal, into countless chunks of bloody flesh. His throat remains, somehow, and he can do nothing but cry out for help. No one is coming to help him. He’ll warn them, he thinks, and in his moment of folly _It_ sears out his eyes, burning them across the sky outside in a ray of golden fire. Slowly and deliberately, his skin peels itself off of his rapidly failing body. He dies mouth open.

They remember Frey, burned by merely looking at Muspelheim’s star, turning his face away from its horrid light. He reaches frantically for his ceremonial sword, but he had already given it away to another kingdom as a gift of goodwill. Goodwill won’t do him any good here, and he claws frantically at his seat before the wood is torn away, and he’s sucked into the flames. His flesh burning away, melting off his bones and searing to a fine crisp. His remains disappear into fire and death.

They remember Freya, poor Freya, the ability to cry stolen from her even as her husband is unmade, tearing up but with molten metal streaming down her cheeks instead, burning away the flesh of her cheeks. The walls Odin once called a wonder of art call to her, their twisting patterns unfolding themselves to envelop her in their mass, binding her tight to the train, puncturing her organs and inserting themselves inside her as she becomes just one more piece of the machinery. She tries to cry out, but her voice is naught but a metal screech. She solidifies into a silver-golden statue, unmoving.

They remember Tyr and Garm, warriors, brothers in arms. Tyr’s hand growing back, blackened and infected, seizing his dagger from his belt and turns it to the only target: Garm, his brother, his friend, down on the ground, teeth sharpened and eyes wild. Tyr tries to stop, but Garm’s eyes are rainbow-flashing as the madness consumes him, and he tears at Tyr’s throat. Tyr’s regained hand finds its way involuntarily to Garm’s heart, the strength it gives him tearing out the wet, fleshy, monstrous thing. The two of them become one, _Its_ guard dog, nothing but the corpse of a bloody, furred beast of tooth and claw.

They remember- they remember- they remember everything, and nothing, and they remember the things they tried to forget and forget the things that define them, because now _It_ defines them, and _It_ has marked them, dragged its tendrils through their body, their mind, their spirit. 

They feel a sudden, searing pain, not in the mind as it always is, but right on the flesh, their flesh, and they blink away tears, their face wet, and open their eyes. Next to them, von Raum crouches, hand raised. The medbay. The starship Aurora. The-the mirror. Their hair, streaked through with rainbow threads. They blink. Once, twice. 

"I-" they begin again, coughing on the throaty ache of tears. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me." 

Von Raum looks concerned, then hands Lyf two pills. "For the fever," he says. Lyf takes them, dry, and looks at himself in the shards of the mirror. His hair remains streaked with _its_ influence. There's a bruise on his cheek. 

"What happened?", they try to say, but they feel… woozy. Tired. They flop back onto the bed. "Von… Raum…" and all at once they lose consciousness. 

* * *

Marius had to do it, obviously. Give Lyf some medication to make them sleep. It was just looking at them there, crying, muttering under their breath some sort of chant, one he couldn't recognize besides the titular word. _Yog-Sothoth._ He needed Lyf to snap out of it, so he slapped them across the face. Clearly the best decision to make in this situation. He has never made a single mistake in his life and he won't start now. 

It's just as he walks out of the medbay that he realizes what he forgot. The Mechs. And here they were, outside the medbay, holding guns pointed at him. Oops. 

"Hello, everybody-" and his charm is immediately interrupted with gunshots, not unexpected but still mildly irritating. He pulls them out of his chest. "We have a guest, kill me quietly." 

Not all of the Mechanisms are actually there trying to shoot Marius, of course. Brian is back in Boring Brian Mode, and Nastya just laughs at him while leaning against the wall. He doesn't know where the Toy Soldier is, nor does he want to. The main issue is, of course, the rest of them. Mostly Tim and Jonny, who seem intent on wasting bullets on him despite his instruction to the contrary. 

He walks over towards them, away from the medbay, and waits for them to stop. It takes a good while, but eventually he's on the floor, body slowly reknitting itself together.

"Finished?" 

His assailants shrug, but Ashes shoots him once more for good measure before they speak up. "Yeah, we're done."

A few moments later, Marius is up and at 'em again. He didn't get as maimed as they did during the fight in the gangplank, but it still hurts like hell to receive approximately 33 gunshots to his vital organs. 

"Now that you've exhausted yourselves, I was _trying_ to tell you that I got us a guest to annoy," he says, before catching Nastya's eye. "Of course, you already knew that, didn't you?" 

Nastya just gives him that same sly grin, but Jonny rolls his eyes. "We were gonna get a good killing, Marius, and instead you brought a random mortal on-board? I don't think so, so what's actually happening?" 

"Well, you see, it isn't some random mortal! I don't know if you two noticed," he begins, gesturing to Ivy and Raphaella, "But the owner of the starship Snorri is one Inspector Lyfrassir Edda!" 

Raphaella stares at Marius for a moment, before laughing hysterically. Ivy looks at him quizzically. "There was a 34% chance a fight would break out in the gangplank, but only a 3% chance you'd begin it. Is this why you did so?" 

Marius shrugs, but is interrupted by Tim before he can answer. "I'm pretty sure what happened is that Marius killed us all to rescue his boyfriend."

"That is _not_ what happened!", Marius cries, but once the crew latches onto an idea they won't let it go for centuries. He knows it's hopeless to resist. He could at least be mean about it, though. "And besides, at least I kept _my_ friend alive." 

Tim winces, and Marius might have gone too far. "Low blow, Marius. Even for one of us," says Brian from his boring, boring spot off to the side. Marius throws a gun at him, and gets a savage pleasure in the metal clang it makes. 

"Anyways," he says, as he once again fails to apologize, "You all clearly did not appreciate that great gangplank fight as much as I did, so I'll leave you to your clearly subpar ribbing." 

And he goes to leave, but he recalls with clarity that the crew has been deprived of their space pirate murder session. "And don't you even think about killing Former Inspector Lyf, he's much more fun alive." The audible groans from behind Marius tell him that he made the right decision, but as he stalks back to his quarters he gets the feeling that he's leaving Lyf in the middle of an ambush when he wakes up. 


	4. In which Lyfrassir has a reprieve and Marius doesn't admit to having feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No content warnings this chapter besides general Eye-like stuff vis-a-vis Odin being mentioned. I've heard people asking for more Nastya, and who am I but a benevolent author?

Lyf sleeps, pulled down by a combination of exhaustion, fever, and the very potent sleeping pills von Raum gave him, while he was too busy recovering from a panic attack to pay close attention.

And as Lyf sleeps, he dreams, of course. Typical things. The imperceptible and horrifying creature that consumed his reality. _Its_ destruction and reconstruction of reality to adhere to _Its_ whims, the tearing apart of space and time as he is forced to watch it all. 

What stays with him in his dreams, more than anything else, is just Odin’s face. Staring at him. Watching. Smiling. Ten minutes of Odin’s eyes meeting his as he sees the madness deep within her. He has the deepest feeling it isn’t frozen, and Odin really did just Watch Him. He dreams of Odin’s eyes, sinking into his soul.

And, as usual, he wakes up feeling watched. Jolting up from-where is he?- hospital bed, white walls, ache in the cheek- Ah. The Aurora. Von Raum’s starship. He looks around, frantically. “Von Raum?”, he calls, and though he _hates_ the man so, so much he’d still prefer it to being alone even more. He spent almost a week alone on that wreck of a ship, _running_ , and he’s done.

“Well! That’s Interesting!”, says a voice that is most definitely _not_ von Raum. A high, clear voice. If they were being more generous or awake, they may have described it as angelic. But they are not, so instead they just flinch, heart beating significantly faster. They look around, cautious, before spotting it- a… large doll? They blink away the dust from their eyes, but the odd thing remains.

“Wh… what?”, Lyf says. “Who… what are you?”. The doll merely laughs, of course, and that too is beautiful and bell-toned. It starts to… to move? What? Is this thing alive?

“Why, I’m The Toy Soldier Of Course!”, it says, and they feel like its smile must be painted on because it. Does. Not. Stop Smiling. And it doesn’t blink, either. It can’t help but remind them of their dreams, of Odin, but it continues to speak. “I’m Here Because Everybody Else Went To Kill Marius! You Know Him Too!”

Lyf pauses. “I’m sorry, what? Von Raum is dead?”. They hate him, they hate him so very much, but this is just a normal amount of concern one’s meant to have for death. They’d almost forgotten it, after the loss of everyone they knew. How’s one to mourn so many at once? After a few days the grief shut down. But von Raum dead… they didn’t think they’d ever see the day.

“Oh, Yes! But Also No!”, the Soldier says, incredibly peppy. “He’ll Get Better! Don’t You Worry, Inspector!” 

“I… Okay. Sure. Fine. This makes sense. Everything makes sense. Might as well add some unkillable into the immortality mix that makes up the space criminals.” They shrug. “And are you one of those, then? The crew of the Aurora?”

“Oh, Of Course! I Am The Most Spectacular One Of All! We’re Called The Mechanisms!” It grins, voice not changing a bit in tone though its sentences. Creepy. “Anyhow!! How Do You Know Marius?”

For once, an easy question to answer. “As Inspector Second Class of the New Midgard Transport Police, I could question criminals if I thought their testimony or expertise would help with the case I worked on. Unfortunately, the three criminals with the most odd expertise and the closest cell to my office were three of your crew. La Cognizi. Alexandria. And, of course, the worst of them all, von Raum. They broke out about eight days ago, and now I once again find myself in the proximity of these… Mechanisms.” Wow, that was a lot of verbiage. The amount needed to describe their disdain for the Mechanisms, of course, but still plenty wordy.

The Toy Soldier has listened intently, or at least they think it has. It’s difficult to tell, as its expressions and tone both remain the same. Eventually, it speaks. “That Sounds Like Jolly Good Fun, Inspector! I Hope You And Marius Continue To Hit It Off! Would You Like To Play Some Draughts With Me?”.

Lyf shrugs. “I don’t see why not. Should we try to find some… draughts?”. They look around for them momentarily, but when they turn back around the Soldier is holding a fully set checkers board. “Well, that’s good too. Where did you… get that?”

“Oh You Know!” It says.

“I do not,” they respond, “but let’s just play.”

* * *

The others disperse as Marius walks away, understandably bored now that they were done killing him. Their loss. He walks through the halls, wandering to no place in particular, just… Thinking. It's unlike him to rescue someone, but Lyf is a special case. That's all. He reassures himself with that, but in his preoccupation he bumps into someone. 

"Oh, sorry my friend!" he says, before noticing who it is. Nastya. "Now wait a second, what was all of your foreboding nonsense about earlier?" 

Nastya smiles, before finally giving him a straight answer. Well, not a straight answer, but a clear answer. He doesn't think Nastya is capable of giving a _straight_ answer. "Upon seeing the ship, I knew it was New Midgardian. Not as elegant as Aurora, of course-" 

"Gross.”

"But still recognizable. And it was fleeing, which means it had warning, which means it knew. Ivy talked about repairing the black box for some… Inspector? I believe? So the dots were easy to connect."

"They don't seem very easy for me to connect, but I suppose you're smarter anyways," he says, muttering the end of that last bit. 

She still catches it. "I might be smarter, but you were and are definitely drunker." At her mentioning it, he realizes he is a bit drunk. They pre-gamed the expected killing, just for the kicks. That explains… A lot, actually. 

"Anyhow, I notice you didn't deign to shoot me up," says Marius. "Didn't feel like caving into peer pressure today? 

"Not particularly, but tell me more about this Lyf," she says, hand always along Aurora's wall. He doesn’t want to think too hard about that, which he guesses means he has to devote his mind to Inspector Lyf. 

“Well, you know he’s a New Midgardian. And you remember how Ivy, Raph, and I got captured and just decided to hang out for a while? Well, guys like him are why. He came in very rarely, you understand, but his office was next to the cell so we could make fun of him when he walked by,” Marius explains, and Nastya chuckles at the explanation.

“So you catcalled a policeman?”

“ _No!_ That’s not what happened at all. You know how it is, you find someone and you have just the right flourishes to get under their skin. I don’t have any of _those_ feelings, if that’s what you mean. I’m not stupid enough to fall in love with a human.”

Nastya grins, and the background hum of the Aurora gets slightly louder, or maybe that’s just his imagination. “I know I have no proclivity for human romance, but you and I are not the same. Unless, of course, you too are…”

“I’ve heard enough about you and Aurora, and I can exist in a state of not falling in love with humans and also not fucking a spaceship-”

“She has a name.”

“So I reckon you should mind your business,” he says, slightly irritated. Even though she’s wrong, of course, and Marius getting the last word in, he still feels like he somehow lost this conversation. 

“And look whose business you’re minding,” Nastya says, gesturing to where they’ve arrived. In his absentmindedness, he’s walked them right back to the medbay. From inside, he hears a faint clicking sound.

“I’ll have you know this means nothing,” Marius asserts, before knocking on the door, deciding that he doesn’t give a shit about the knocking thing, and just barging in. The sight is… odd, that’s for sure. Lyf and the Soldier. So that’s where it ran off to. Are they… playing checkers?. Odd. 

“Hello Marius!” says the Soldier, peppy as usual. “I Am Playing Draughts With Lyfrassir!”. And indeed it is, winning five to one. 

Marius looks at Lyf. He’s looking… better than before. His hair still has those streaks, but his eyes are clearer. And now Marius is looking into his eyes, and that’s not exactly what he intended to do but now they’re staring at each other. Marius breaks eye contact after a moment, looking down at the checkerboard once again. “You can order it to lose, you know.”

“What do you mean?”, asks Lyf, ignorant of the Soldier’s nature. It’s obviously inhuman, but plenty of folks assume it’s just some weird alien or something.

“It’s a toy _soldier_. I know you’re a bit foggy-minded still but even you should know that when you’re a soldier you follow any and all orders given,” and maybe it was harsh to bring up his incident, but Marius is nothing if not dedicated to his craft, and his craft happens to be pissing people off.

“Alright, then,” says Lyf with an even tone, “I guess we’d better test it. Soldier, shoot Marius von Raum.” And the Soldier does so, because of course it does, so Marius ends up with a bullet in his kidney and a laugh bubbling out of his throat.

“Who knew?”, he says, as the hole in his skin reknits itself, “That you had a spine?”


	5. In Which Lyfrassir acquires some levity and Marius gets embarrassed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a couple of days since I've updated, simply because chapters are getting longer and I've had a busy weekend. Expect another on Tuesday or Wednesday, probably. 
> 
> This section contains some violence typical of the Mechs.

Lyf had just gotten a sort-of-break from the disregard for everything about anatomy, but now it looks like he’s back in the normal zone. Von Raum’s flesh is just… disobeying the law of conservation of matter. New Midgard’s schools might not have been great, but he had to learn some quantum physics principles to understand the Bifrost and this doesn’t even follow _those_ bullshit rules. 

After a moment just transfixed by the movements of blood and flesh, slowly working its way around a bullet, Lyf finally finds it in himself to speak. “Hey,” he says, cautiously. “Hey, what the _fuck_?”

Von Raum chuckles, and shrugs. There’s still a hole in his shirt, but any traces of the wound are gone. That’s… interesting, to be sure. He knew they were immortal, and from the Soldier’s descriptions could infer that they were unkillable, but it was something different seeing it there. Erased. What is a human if not a miserable pile of scars? Then again, _was_ von Raum human?

“Like what you see?”, he asks, and Lyfrassir goes through all five stages of grief in two seconds. He _hates_ von Raum, and obviously that’s- no! Ew! And even if von Raum is attractive, which he obviously is, that is so _not_ why Lyf was looking at him.

They recoil, and sputter for a moment or two before regaining composure. "I am, doing _nothing_ of the sort, and for that matter the only reason I'm still here is because I would have died otherwise. At this point it may have been the more favorable outcome." And perhaps that's harsh, but they have to regain control of this situation somehow. They're done being helpless, and if that means they have to forget about the touch of von Raum's hand on their arm and the look of his eyes then so be it. 

"We can go back and leave you floating in the void, that's what we do to TS every other week," says von Raum, gesturing at the doll as it stands at attention. 

It smiles. It didn't ever stop smiling, but the energy of the smile increases. "I Did Backflips! It Was Fun!" 

"Irregardless, you won't. You’re much too invested in me, and to kill me now would be the sunk cost fallacy,” they say.

“Oh fuck off,” says von Raum, “Don’t lecture me on psychological fallacies, I’m a liscenced psychiatrist.” That sounds like bullshit. 

“That sounds like bullshit,” Lyf says. No one can say they don’t speak their mind. 

“I’m a psychiatrist,” von Raum edits, removing any sort of qualifications.

“ _Are you?_ ”

“I’m.” 

And now they’re looking at Marius- von Raum- and he’s laughing, and they’re laughing with him, and “BREAK IT UP, BREAK IT UP!”

And the door slams open, revealing an incredibly threatening man with a gun. And some… interesting eyeliner choices. Von Raum just leans back into the seat he had sat himself in and rolls his eyes dramatically, flipping the new guy off with his metal arm. 

“Really, Jonny?”, he says, standing up to face off… Jonny, they suppose? He doesn’t look like a Jonny, but whatever. “We weren’t even doing anything.”

“Suuuure,” Jonny says, and before Lyf can even think about what his deal is he pulls out a revolver and fires a handful of shots into von Raum’s head. “That’s for leaving me stranded on date night three days ago.”

Lyf has… so many questions. What? Why? Date Night? But before they can ask them Jonny turns around and glares at him. “And I suppose you’re the boy?”

They shrug. “Not at the moment now, I am not _a_ boy, nor am I _the_ boy.” And besides, they think, even if they were the boy what would that entail? What’s Jonny meant to be suggesting? “What’s date night?”

* * *

Marius is getting a bit tired of being shot. Which is completely understandable, he reckons, because it’s been approximately four hours and he’s been pumped full of so much lead even the Moon Kaiser couldn’t cook him. Heh. Tim would like that analogy. 

As he sits up, groaning from the pain of having legally died and having his brain forcibly restructure itself around the bullets(he'll have to take those out later) he hears Lyf talking about- " _Ew_." 

"Great," says Jonny, cheerfully, "You're awake. You can be the one to tell Lyf about what date night is." 

“Ugggghhhh. Fuck off, why me?” Marius asks, pushing himself up and looking at the scene. There’s a smear of blood, as is to be expected when Jonny blows some brains out, but that’s boring. Jonny’s fiddling with his guns and leaning against a counter that definitely shouldn’t support his weight, and Lyf is a bit spooked he reckons. Understandably, because a gun just shot and killed their fantastically handsome tormentor.

“Because you’re the one who left me aboard last date night, so you get to pay the price.” He thinks for a moment. “The second price. The first price was getting shot, but you deserve more… embarrassment. I have _plenty_ of the shit.”

Marius blinks. Jonny is still holding the gun. Maybe he’d argue, but he’d rather Lyf not get caught in the crossfire. “Sure, yeah, fine. Alrighty, you’re paying attention?”

Jonny walks right on out, and Marius can’t blame him. Lyf just nods, tense.

“Good, stop. You don’t want to hear this.” He pauses, before continuing. “Once every month or so, Nastya- she’s our engineer, Cyberian, I think you heard her on the comms?”

“Yeah, I did, she told me I was about to be murdered,” Lyf answers.

Marius points a finger at them. “That was a trap, I told you to stop listening.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Anyhow, once every month or so Nastya and her girlfriend have a date. And this is an extremely hazardous event.”

"Why?"

“Well, ah… Nastya’s girlfriend happens to be the ship. The Aurora.” And now that it’s out, and Lyf’s forehead wrinkles in trying to figure out how that could possibly _work,_ Marius can hear the ship’s ventilators laughing. He punches the wall.

“Wait, wh-”

And they’re interrupted, rather quickly if anything, by a knocking at the door. A very… enthusiastic knocking. And is that a chant? Time to delegate. Marius looks at the Soldier, standing at attention and still holding that gun. “Soldier, I’d like you to investigate the noises outside.”

“Right Away, Sir!” it nods, running to the door. He loses track for a moment, but a sudden blast catches his attention. The Toy Soldier’s head rolls over and lands at his feet. It’s still smiling. “It’s The Rest Of The Mechanisms! They’d Like To Speak To Inspector Lyf!”

“Fuck,” they say in unison.


	6. In which Lyfrassir meets the Mechanisms and Marius does some bargaining

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No CWs this time, really? I suppose some discussion of murder and some shooting, but that's to be expected from the mechs at pretty much any time.
> 
> I'm back, babes! Thought you'd seen the last of me, huh? Idk how frequently I'll post, but I'll try to put out chapters more frequently now. 
> 
> A reminder that you can follow my tumblr @capripian.

Lyf exits the medbay with what he thinks is an acceptable amount of caution, given the circumstance that he is about to be face-to-face with a handful of immoral immortals. The amount of caution, in that case, is a whole fucking lot. He exits with his hands up, to the great unknown, and also to a sound of- oh. That's just laughter. 

He puts his hands down, sheepish, and takes a look around. Jonny is there talking with a darker-skinned person and some guy with- wait, what _are_ those taking the place of eyes? They look like what Odin had(no, don't think about Odin, he doesn't want to think about Odin). These are different, though. More… mechanical. He's been staring, however, and so he moves on. 

On the other side, he sees Raphaella and Ivy, two familiar faces. They’re talking to an automaton, or at least he thinks it is before it- before he? Before he moves like a human, fluid and smooth in a way the Soldier isn't. Another woman sits alone atop a metal storage unit, but Lyf thinks he can see her tapping on the wall in a coded pattern. And, of course, he has von Raum by his side, and unlike Lyf Marius seems keen on just walking right out. The others turn to look at von Raum and his strutting about, before they turn their gazes onto Lyfrassir himself.

It’s the automaton one who speaks first, stepping forward and waving a hello. Up close, Lyf doesn’t understand how he could have possibly mistaken him for something like the Toy Soldier. Though his body is inorganic, he moves and speaks like a person. His face, though veined with bolt and plating, emotes much more than the glassy-eyed woodpaint Soldier.

“Hello there! My name is Drumbot Brian, I’m the pilot here. I apologize for my companions’ actions. Killing is wrong, and they shouldn’t have threatened to-” and Jonny shoots Brian in the shoulder, causing him to pause briefly. Brian levels his gaze at Jonny, in a clear expression of ‘ _what gives?_ ’. He returns to speaking. “As I was _saying,_ they shouldn’t have threatened to kill and eat you.”

The one with the odd eyes throws his arm around Brian’s shoulder, ignoring the wound already regenerating there, and reaches for something at the nape of his neck. Brian swats him away. “Tim! No switch-flipping!”

So that’s Tim, then. As he walks back over to Jonny with his hands up in a mock apology, Lyf gets the feeling the two of them are pretty good friends. Certainly both bastards enough to shoot someone for no reason. That might be all of the Mechanisms, now that he thinks about it.

Jonny’s other companion pulls a matchbox out of their pocket and subtly drops a lit match into Tim’s hair. He’s too busy bloviating to notice at first, and Lyf stifles a chuckle as they see him suddenly cry out in pain and start patting at his head. Apparently they don’t stifle their chuckle enough, because the firestarter grins at them and does a sarcastic salute. “Ashes.”

Ashes, then. Fitting. They begin to speak. “So… do all of you have such ridiculous names?”

They see the woman sitting against the wall start laughing. Oh, it’s the Cyberian they heard on the comms. Nadya, they think it was? Nesta? They can’t quite remember. Whoever she is, she’s clearly having a riot. Someone shoots her, but she recovers fairly quickly. Curious enough, her blood is silverish. Regardless, they continue their thought.

“I’m serious. Drumbot for the metal one, Ashes for the arsonist, Toy Soldier named as described. Hel, even you three escapees have rather fitting names.” They hadn’t made the connection before now, but it’s true. La Cognizi for one who had always had a keen mind, Alexandria for the archive of knowledge and probability. Von Raum is exactly the kind of person to name himself the baron of space. Absolutely ridiculous.

Von Raum shrugs. “You named yourself _Lyfrassir Edda,_ I think we’re entitled to a bit of flair when choosing new names.”

“Oh, so you weren’t born the Spacelord? You had some dull and boring name before this one?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Ashes rolls their eyes. “Bold words from someone named Byron!”

“Excuse me, O’Reilly! It’s _Baron,_ as in _Baron Marius von Raum._ ”

Lyf can see him getting irritated, and they take great pleasure in it. Baron Marius von Raum is technically what the criminal records said, although it’s obviously fake in one way or another.

Jonny, who had been attempting to continue the process of lighting Tim’s hair on fire, looks up in what Lyf can only think of as sadistic amusement. “Having fun, y’all? You want this to turn into a real party?”

The rest of the Mechanisms cheer, even… Narima? That doesn’t sound right either, but they cannot remember her name for the life of them. Marius doesn’t, for some reason. Regardless, Lyfrassir begins to feel very threatened.

* * *

Marius has been having a Day. First figuring out that Lyf was alive, then slapping them awake from their spooky panic attack, then getting shot a bunch? A bit more interesting than the average day aboard the Aurora, that’s for certain. Lyf is… fun.

Won’t be for much longer, though, if Jonny has anything to say about it. Marius knows all about his idea of a ‘real party’. Usually means some kind of manhunt, or something else to make the ship into a murderfest for entertainment. And he won’t begrudge a revel of blood and bullets, certainly not! It’s one of the only things that makes immortality bearable. Despite how many times he’s been killed, there’s always the slightest bit of fear that the next one will stick. And that? That’s exciting.

But simultaneously, he likes Lyf. Well, he hates Lyf. He likes to annoy Lyf, if only because it’s so easy to get under his skin. And just a simple bloody mess of a gunfight would take all of that long-term fun away. He can try to swing it, though.

The other Mechanisms are already putting hands to their guns, but Marius steps out in front of Lyf with what he hopes is his most convincing smile. “Hey there, friends, pals, mates-”

“Do you have a point, Marius?”, says Ivy. She’s retrieving her gun from Jonny, who must have borrowed it and ‘forgotten’ to give it back. Again. “You usually enjoy it when we have some fun. The probability of this kind of opposition is-”

“Very low, yes, I know!” he says, cutting her off while gesticulating wildly. “But hear me out.”

The others pause, listening. Even Nastya seems to have turned her attention away from communicating with Aurora for the time being. Inscrutable as ever, Rasputina. 

“There’s a difference between instant gratification and delayed response, yeah? Like, getting one marshmallow right now or getting two a few minutes later. It’s a thing.”

They seem to be following along.

“So it’s the same here!”

They no longer seem to be following along. Raphaella pipes up. “Marius, you’re out of your head. This is what we do with humans aboard the ship, and just because this one is your little crush doesn’t mean anything changes.”

“He’s not my crush, but listen! You know Former Inspector Lyf. We had such a fun time irritating him for the time when he had his office right next to our cell. So much to poke at, so much pomposity!”

He can hear Ashes and Brian whispering to each other. “ _Is pomposity a word, you reckon, or is he making that up?”_

“It is _absolutely_ a word, Mx. O’Reilly, and I’d thank you not to interrupt!”

He’s not looking at them, but he knows they’re rolling their eyes.

“As I was _saying,_ if we treat Lyf like just another human to eradicate, it gets boring. He dies, maybe Jonny eats him and rambles about ethics like he always does-”

“Do not,” Jonny says, crossing his arms. A few others give him a deadpan stare. “I do _not!”_

Marius shrugs. “You do. But whatever. That’s fun for what, an hour? A day maximum, if he manages to live that long? Judging by the complete lack of weapons, I sincerely doubt it.”

Lyf’s been mostly quiet through his arguing with the others, but now he pipes up, in a quiet mutter. _“Do too have a weapon.”_

“Sorry, what was that? Did the former inspector say something?”

Lyf pulls a sizable chef’s knife from their jacket. “I said I’ve got a weapon. It might not be much, but it’s what I have. And besides, I’m not a fucking piece of meat. You can’t just argue over whether to kill me now or dry me like some sort of New Midgardian lutefisk and kill me later, I’m a person.”

He can see Nastya smile to herself, and she speaks up. “He’s right, you know. Just think about how fun it will be to see Marius try to justify his little crush for the next twenty or thirty years until the human dies.”

Marius gets to spluttering. “Th- I- You- That is _not_ why I’m doing this, you lot just can’t think of anything beyond your guns’ sights!”

Tim stops to consider, tapping a finger to his chin. “Well, has been quite a while since a mortal’s been a Mechanism’s companion. Not since you n’ Ulysses, isn’t that right Ashes?”

Ashes glares at him. “‘Me and Ulysses’ isn’t anything, Gunpowder. Then again, how about you and Bertie?”

Brian clicks his tongue when Tim pulls out his gun. “Now now, let’s not get into a fight because of the mortal thing. Why don’t we just keep him?”

He watches them consider. Ivy pipes up. “He has at least twenty years left, and there is over a 50% chance that his lifespan will be artificially increased thanks to his exposure to the Bifrost and to the influence of Yog-Sothoth.”

Lyf flinches, but none of the others seem to notice.

“Exactly,” Marius says, pointing at Ivy as if decisive gesturing will further support his argument. “Lyf’s an investment!”

“I don’t know,” says Jonny. “I still think he could be worth a quick murder, and as the captain of the ship I feel as though I-”

He’s drowned out by the rest of them yelling “First mate!”, as is their custom. Serves him right. 

“Seems like that makes you outvoted, Jonny.” Nastya’s grinning like a fiend as she says it, and Marius remembers again how much closer the early Mechanisms are to each other than he is to them, Jonny and Nastya especially. They’re practically brother and sister at this point. 

“Ah, well.” Jonny frowns. “Guess it does. I still think you’re all wrong, but whatever.”

“Yes,” begins Marius, almost as smug as Nastya, “But there’s the rub- you can think whatever you want, but you can’t do anything about it, can you?”

Jonny shrugs, and begins walking off. “Oh well. Guess I can allow Marius and his datemate a small honeymoon period.”

Marius has no choice but to splutter at his back, making vague noises of ‘ _I would never’_ and ‘ _what are you talking about’_ , until the doors shut behind Jonny and the others begin to disperse.

“Well then,” he says to Lyf, “We’d better see about getting you a room. Seems like you’ll be staying a while.”

Lyf just sighs.


	7. In which Lyfrassir gets lost and Marius is forced to talk about his feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, back at it again w another chapter! No big CWs here.

Von Raum has been leading him through a series of labyrinthine hallways for the past fifteen minutes and Lyf is beginning to think that Marius has no idea what he’s doing or where he’s going. Occasionally the pirate will look up toward bits of exposed wire on the ceiling for guidance, but it seems to be getting him nowhere. Lyf stops in the middle of one of the hallways and crosses his arms. 

Marius turns around to face him, confused. “What’re you doing, Former Inspector Lyf? We’d best keep going.”

Lyf rolls his eyes and stays put. “To be frank, von Raum, I don’t think you know where you’re going. In fact, I don’t think you’ve known where you were going the whole time.”

He looks shocked and offended, which Lyf would feel bad about if he didn’t know that Marius was absolutely faking it to be dramatic. “How  _ dare _ you insinuate such a thing, Mr. Edda? I’m hurt! Thousands of years I have lived on this ship, tracking each and every pathway, and yet I am doubted still?”

“Yes.”

“You wound me, Former Inspector!”

“Good.”

He watches Marius continue to posture, and snickers. Despite being an immortal asshole who essentially has taken him prisoner, von Raum is pretty funny sometimes.

“Well then, Lyf! Go right on ahead and lead me to your room!”, von Raum says, while gesturing to the uniform halls ahead with a smile.

Lyf shrugs. “Sure. I don’t see why not. I navigated through all of  _ it- _ ah, through some intricate mysteries before.” If Marius notices his abrupt backtracking, he doesn’t say anything. 

Now to find the way. Despite how much he bragged about it, he really doesn’t know where he’s going. He wanders about the passages for a bit, passing doors that he doesn't think lead to bedrooms. Marius stays mum, but occasionally keeps looking up to those exposed-wire bits of the ceiling.

When Lyfrassir looks up to try to see what he’s looking for, he notices something… unexpected. A blinking LED light, bright green, in the shape of an arrow. Marius appears not to have noticed, and after a few seconds it disappears. Lyf decides to go the way it points. What’s the worst that could happen?

The worst that could happen, as it turns out, is that he could get even more lost. That’s a surprise. Somehow they’ve ended up deeper down than he anticipated.

He continues to follow the odd flickering arrows in the ceiling, and they lead him down a rambling, winding path getting closer to what he’d suppose is the engine room, if this strange ship followed conventions. Lyf gets the feeling that Marius is beginning to grow impatient with the twists and turns he’s taking. He certainly would be. There are definitely no residential spaces down here.

Or at least he’d think that, but he spies a door to what looks like a bedroom. This far down it’s certainly a surprise, but he’s not going to look a gift horse in its mouth. Marius holds his hand out.

“Wait. Don’t go in there.”

Lyf brushes the metal arm aside. “You can’t tell me what to do.” He opens the door.

* * *

Marius has no choice but to watch helplessly as Former Inspector Lyf pushes open Nastya’s door. He knew she was down here, but he didn’t have the foresight to warn them. To be frank, he almost never has foresight. It’s not amongst his numerous and varied talents.

So he watches, as Lyf swings open the door to reveal- oh, okay. It’s fine. Nastya’s not doing anything weird or gross with Aurora. She’s just quiet, turned away from the door, one arm outstretched with a wire jacked into a port she has there. Must be doing something funny with her mechanism’s cybernetic aspect. 

She doesn’t notice him at first, deep into whatever she’s doing. Lyf looks confused, and he gestures for them to get out of the room and close the door. Even as Marius steps over the threshold back into the hall, Lyf steps further inside. He gives them a ‘what gives’ gesture. They flip him off. Marius can respect the feistiness.

Just as he turns away and leaves Lyf for a lost cause, there’s motion from Nastya. He whips around, startled. She’s gotten up and turned to face them, although the wire is still jacked into her arm. 

“Nastya, how  _ pleasant  _ to see you! Now I’m sorry, but we really must b-”

Lyf interrupts him. “Oh, is it Nastya? I couldn’t figure it out, but I thought it sounded something like that.”

“Yes, it’s Nastya, Nastya Nikolaevna Romanova Rasputina, and we’d best be g-”

Nastya interrupts him. Stars above, why do people keep doing that today? It’s incredibly rude. “Why would you leave, Marius? Aurora wanted to meet the new guest, and you’re a package deal.”

Lyf pipes up. “Okay, first off we are not a package deal. Second off, I thought Aurora was the name of the ship.”

Marius sighs, abandoning all hopes of getting away at this point. “It is.”

“And ships can’t meet anyone.”

Nastya puts her palm to her face. “You had to pick up a New Midgardian, Marius? Their technology is so far behind, especially after that dreadful political mess the Bifrost’s collapse caused. They don’t even have sentient ships yet.” Her tone is full of annoyance.

She’s got a point, but Marius finds himself leaping to Lyf’s defense anyways. Maybe it’s just because they look strangely fragile at the mention of their home, maybe it’s because their cluelessness is slightly endearing. Regardless, he’s doing it and it’s too late to stop talking now. 

“You know, Nastya, I think that might be a blessing actually? It’d be great to be on a ship without date night, and those kinds of ships don’t turn off all the lights and restrict access to the bridge when they have a fight with their girlfriends. Just thinking about it.”

Nastya bristles. Lyf is watching their exchange like it’s a table tennis match, back and forth, but they speak up after noting something. “...Girlfriends?”

Marius gestures to Nastya, and she rolls her eyes. “Yes, girlfriends. I thought you told them more about this, Byron-”

“It’s Baron-”

“It’s not. Aurora is my girlfriend, and she wanted to meet Lyfrassir, so here we are. Did you not notice her leading you down here?”

Wait, they were doing what? Lyf puts their hand on their face, realising something or other. Ah. Aurora must have been doing her little light trick. He was looking for guidance- Lyf was right when they thought he was lost- but apparently it was just Lyf who got to have personalized directions. And not even to a fitting bedroom! Ridiculous. 

Nastya continues, apparently ignorant to his mental tirade. “She does still want to meet you, Lyfrassir.”

They look confused. “I’m… in her? Right now? Anyways? So doesn’t that count as meeting?”

“Well, yes,” says Nastya, “But she’d like to speak to you as well.”

"She can speak?”

Marius cuts in, just to get a bit of light ragging. “You can speak too, don’t act so surprised.”

Lyf rolls their eyes. Did they always have those specks of color, or is that from their trials at the hands of Yog-Sothoth? Marius might dislike them, but wow does their story tug at his heart. He would be tempted to write a song about it, but it seems strange to do that about someone alive.

Nastya holds up the wire that was in her arm, and gestures for Lyf to sit down. They look hesitant. “Ah, I don’t- I don’t have a hole in my arm to put wires in?”

That’s a good point. “Come on now, Lyf, you don’t have an arm with cybernetic technology in it?” Marius waves at them with his mechanism. “They’re all the rage these days, very fashionable.”

“You don’t  _ need _ one, technically,” remarks Nastya. “It’s intelligent enough to get what it needs just from you holding it.”

“Really?” Lyf does not seem convinced. “I don’t think that’s right, but I don’t know enough about technology to dispute it.”

“It’s right,” says Nastya, and she thrusts the wire into Lyf’s hands. They go still, brow furrowed as though thinking and eyes closed. She turns to Marius. “He’s not going to hear anything you say.”

“Really?” He waves a hand in front of Lyf’s face, with no reaction.

“Really.”

“Damn. Well, I’d best be going.”

“Really? You’re so quick to leave your boy to my ‘dastardly deviant ship-loving wiles’?” Nastya says, in air quotes. 

“I mean, no, but-”

“I feel like it’s been so long since we talked, Marius,” she says while sitting back down.

“We talked an hour ago. You prodded me about my ‘feelings’.”

“I see that as nothing but revenge for all of the ridiculous psychoanalysis you have decided to perform on us. Now tell me, Marius,” and her expression is dead serious, “what was your relationship like with your father?”

A moment of pause, to let it sink in, and Marius laughs his ass off. “I’m not  _ Jonny,  _ Nastya! Stars, you really had me going for a minute there.”

She chuckles a bit as well. “I had to try.”

“So can I go now?"

“No, I was serious about that. You can’t just pretend that you brought Lyfrassir Edda here for no reason.”

Marius lets out a long and drawn out sigh. “Fine,” he says. “I’ll talk to you about my  _ feelings.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *shakes tin can* spare comments? spare comments?

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment or a kudos if you enjoyed!


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